“To think you’d personally clean up the surroundings like this—are you really an angel sent down from heaven?”
No. Those guys are demons. There’s no way the kids who just smashed my peaceful mentality to pieces could possibly be angels.
“The one who recognized you was Ye-gyeol. You’re. So. Mean.”
You’re so mean. This isn’t even the “Oh My T T” song, what is this nonsense.
Suddenly, the day of the fan club entrance exam came to mind. I’d mixed up the two back then too. To escape this crisis, I recalled the fan club president’s behavior.
“Oh my God!”
Thud!
I slammed my head hard against the building wall and shouted.
“I must have lost my mind from being so shocked. To dare confuse you two—I’m so sorry for breathing under the same sky as you!”
Putting my desire to escape this situation into it, I banged my head against the side building wall just hard enough to feel numb. The face of the fan club president, who had been ready to die for mixing up the two last time, flickered before my eyes. Are you watching? Thanks to you, I’m acting well…
“I should die. Oh, to dare confuse them even though I’m a fan club member. I don’t deserve the honorable title of being a Five Great Kings Fan Club member.”
Thunk, thunk—I diligently banged my head between words. I’m a bad fan club, a bad fan club member.
“Pfft, I’ll believe you. You can go…”
Fan club members are free! Yeo-wol, thank you for letting me go! I’ll ignore that weird laughing sound!
“Thank you…”
I said while covering my mouth, overwhelmed with emotion.
Route escape successful. Of course, I did raise some suspicion. I’ll live virtuously from now on.
‘I should clap enthusiastically.’
Lately I’ve been slacking off so they didn’t care and I quit. I’d been doing maybe one praise a day at most. I sighed and sent a text to Cho-yeon.
[Yu Shi-dan][6:01 PM] Ran into the Five Great Kings in an alley.
[Yu Shi-dan][6:02 PM] Even mixed up the twins’ names. Just in case, I can’t come to your house for a while.
***
Cho-yeon’s eyes opened at the sound of his phone notification.
After reading Shi-dan’s text, Cho-yeon made a slightly lonely expression. A person in the same situation who only met from behind—it was as good as mutually agreed upon. If it felt a bit complicated now, was it just fickleness after all?
[Han Cho-yeon][6:05 PM] Who was it that said they perfectly memorized the twins’ names and faces a few days ago?
[Han Cho-yeon][6:05 PM] You mixed them up again, you idiot.
Of course, the text content wasn’t lonely at all.
***
I looked in the mirror. Even though I’d controlled my strength yesterday, my forehead had turned red and swollen. Moreover, there were scratches here and there as if scraped against the wall. I put a bandage on my forehead. As my bangs fell back down, they barely covered the bandage.
“Where do you keep getting hurt?”
My mother looked at me standing in front of the mirror and spoke. Feeling unnecessarily sorry at my mother’s worried tone, I bowed my head. Mother approached and straightened my school uniform while speaking.
“Have a good day at school today, and don’t get hurt. Please.”
Mother hit my back once, hard. Rubbing my stinging back, I looked at Mother. I smiled at her for no reason, greeted her, and left the house.
As soon as I came out to Inseong Intersection, I heard familiar cheers. The Five Great Kings coincidentally have quite similar school commute times to mine. I’ve never tried it before, but should I get caught up in the crowd once?
“Kyaaaah!”
Even pedestrians walking on the street moved aside and cheered when the Five Great Kings passed by. At this level, they should just be celebrities—why are they doing this here?
“Look over there! Today Lee Ye-gyeol-nim has a red ribbon in his hair! So. Cute. Amazing!”
“Lee Han-gyeol-nim has a blue ribbon? Every time the ribbon flutters, my heart flutters too, Five Great Kings-nim!”
Male high school students who came face to face with the Five Great Kings screamed as they spoke. Even while making way for the Five Great Kings, they didn’t stop talking and shot out compliments like a machine gun.
‘But they have ribbons in their hair? Did they tie their hair up like apples or something?’
Very bad for mental health. I decided not to think about it.
“Can you hear it… my ♥heart beat♥…”
“My heart is pounding…★”
Passing middle schoolers saw the Five Great Kings and cheered. Our kids didn’t speak so cringily. I should never get caught up in the crowd again. It really wakes you up.
“Today, the Midnight Emperor Han Yeo-wol-nim is like a wounded Li0n. I want to dare give birth to heal him(-…”
‘It should be “heal,” not “give birth.”‘
I looked at the middle school kids in shock. A two-hit combo that destroys both spelling and my sanity.
I’d always followed from a bit of a distance. To sum up my impressions of getting caught up in the Five Great Kings’ morning commute crowd for the first time in one phrase:
‘Woof… woof woof…’
I just wanted to become a dog. Rather than keep hearing such words, I’d rather be a puppy that doesn’t know how to speak human language.
“Destroy the Earth!”
Boom!
At last, one person punched the building next to them. I watched the scene in a daze. Pushed by the crowd, I was moved forward even without walking. I relaxed and walked as I was pushed along.
‘I’m never getting caught up in the morning commute crowd again.’
If I ever get caught up in the morning commute crowd again, it’ll only be when I’m truly desperate. Unable to keep up among the people, I slowly headed toward school.
One kid collapsed and fell out. No wonder the nurse’s office is always crowded when I go to the classroom.
“Huh?”
Those guys entered the school building without even changing into their indoor shoes. Suddenly left alone, I changed into my indoor shoes. What crime did the janitors who have to clean all those countless shoe marks commit?
Oh, right. Since this is a web novel world, the marks automatically disappear after some time. I was convinced as I put my sneakers in my indoor shoe bag.
When I entered the classroom, the kids glanced at me.
While I was hanging my bag on my desk, In-sae approached me and naturally sat in my chair. I looked at In-sae with bewildered eyes. Of course, it’s not the first or second time and I know he’ll move before the bell rings, but I was momentarily flustered.
In-sae unwrapped a lollipop wrapper as he spoke. It seems to be apple-flavored with a green wrapper.
“They say we’re going on a school trip starting next Wednesday for 3 nights and 4 days.”
“Really?”
Hee-ae asked with sparkling eyes. In-sae gestured toward the school bulletin board with his head. They’d distributed a school notice before too.
I quietly looked at Hee-ae and In-sae. Cho-yeon sitting behind me flickered outside my field of vision.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Cho-yeon for a while.’
What a shame.
“But guys. Did you see the Two Hearts-nims today?”
Two Hearts means the twins. Don’t tell me they’re talking about the ribbons they wore. Even now, I was desperately ignoring the twins’ ribbons chattering next to Cho-yeon.
If I’d been sitting, I wouldn’t have seen them, but because In-sae is sitting and I’m standing next to him, the problem is I can barely see toward the twins. The shape of the ribbons keeps appearing and disappearing. And they’re lace ribbons at that.
“Ribbons?”
“Ribbons, they’re truly amazing!”
“I’ll give you a photo later.”
In-sae muttered and pulled out a photo from his pocket and waved it. It seems to be a picture of the twins with ribbons. The fan club kids must have already taken photos and spread them around.
“How did they think of something so wonderful?”
“I got that interview. I asked them in the name of the fan club why they wore ribbons.”
The fan club president approached and spoke. He indicated 25 with both hands.
“He said that since enrollment, students have already confused them 25 times.”
The fan club president added gloomily at the end that I was among them too. Hmm, I probably account for 2-3 of those times.
“Especially Cho-yeon-nim was confused 21 times.”
It seems Cho-yeon occupied the largest portion of those 21 times. It appears they wore ribbons because Cho-yeon kept confusing them. Or maybe they were shocked that a mere extra like me passing by dared to confuse them.
“3, 2, 1. Ding.”
What?
It was fast, but a photo of the twins’ faces with ribbons was shoved in front of my eyes then disappeared. I rubbed my eyes at the shocking afterimage of lace ribbons still remaining in my vision.
“Because it’s you, I showed it for exactly 3 seconds. If you want to have it, participate in fan club activities.”
The fan club president spoke as if doing me a favor. I’m very grateful for that offer, but I don’t want to have it or see it at all. And isn’t 3, 2, 1, ding actually counting 4 seconds?
I stuttered with a face dazed from shock. My words weren’t organizing properly.
“Be grateful to me.”
Shockingly, the image of the twins making cute expressions with flower-cup hands while wearing ribbons in their hair tied up like apples flickered before my eyes.
“Ah, ah…”
I covered my face. Following the kids who said “give birth” earlier, the twins’ ribbon attack dealt a critical hit to my sanity. As I nearly collapsed, Hee-ae hurriedly stood up and caught me. In-sae, caught in the middle, made an awkward face.
“Shi-dan. Are you okay?”
“…I’m just so moved.”
I said while grinding my teeth. Suddenly feeling like the twins were looking, I came to my senses and removed my hands from my face. I can’t let my acting fall apart like this.
“Yes, thank you so much. I almost lost my mind for a moment from facing the twins’ noble countenances without any preparation.”
I thanked Hee-ae for catching me. In-sae looked at my complexion and slowly moved away from his seat. His usually horizontal slit eyes were drooping as if flustered. In-sae hesitated then spoke.
“I’ll give you a photo too.”
I stopped In-sae with the resolve to die.
“You like them though.”
“I like them so much that if I receive it, I think I’ll faint.”
“I’ll take you to the nurse’s office.”
“No. Think of my heart health.”
The bell rang just in time, so I could escape from that hell. In-sae’s sincerity is so moving, but I really hate this kind of thing.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
